Hymn Sing with the Franklin Ensenble

Call and Response:

Blessed be the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth!
Praise be to God, the Giver of many gifts!
Our help is in God’s name, the One who calls us here.
We come with songs of praise, with prayers too deep for words.
Blessed be the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth!
Blessed be the Lord!

 

Words of Welcome

Good Morning Everyone! Welcome to the Rockburn Presbyterian Church! We are absolutely delighted that you are here today!  We are especially  thrilled  and honoured to have the talented Franklin Ensemble leading us in musical worship … leading us in songs of praise Praise to our Lord and Creator.

Opening Prayer & The Lord’s Prayer

Shall we now bow down our heads in prayer,  Most Holy God, our Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before you this morning with songs of praise and thanksgiving in our hearts. We seek your blessings over our life and the lives of our family, friends, relatives, our leaders and our Nation. We thank you for all that you have done that has brought us to this point in time. More importantly we thank you for what you are going to do as we journey forward this day. Amen. Shall We now pray in unison the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray:  Our Father who art in Heaven

 

So let’s now fill our lungs with air and your hearts with joy as we join our voices together in singing….could someone please shout out  a selection from the green songbook

 

Songs of your Choice led by the Franklin Ensemble

 

Meditation: Before you say another word…Blessed YOU Are! Diane


                                                                                                 Before you say another word...

If you have food in the fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep.....you are richer than 75% of the world.  If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace......you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.  If you woke this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than the millions who will not survive this week.  If you never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation.....you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married.... you are very rare, even in North America.  If you can hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful.... you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.  If you can read this message, then you have just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you and furthermore you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings and pass along this to remind everyone else how

Blessed You Are


Hymn:   “Count Your Blessings” & More Hymns of Your Choice


   The Offertory Prayer

 Prayer for the Gifts We Offer to the Lord Lord, You provide us with everything it is that we need. You have blessed us with many opportunities to do what is right and true. You never ask us to wait when we cry out for Your name. You provide us counsel in times of sorrow and grief.

You share our joy in times of celebration and glee. Today, teach us how to dedicate our lives only for Your glory. Teach us to become a blessing to others even to those we do not know. Encourage us to follow the footsteps of Your son Jesus Christ as he was the ultimate example of what a good person is.

Keep us away from temptation and mend the hearts of those who are hurt. May these tithes and other gifts multiply and it may be of help to those who are in need. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Meditation:   “Be a Blessing”    Elizabeth


Be A Blessing

Genesis 12:1, 2.

"The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing”

In these first words that God spoke to Abraham, we have the short summary of all that God has to say to him and to us as His children. We see the goal to which God calls us, the power that carries us to that goal, and the place where that power is found.

Be a blessing--that is the goal for which God separates Abraham and every believing child of His. God would have him and us understand that, when He blesses us, it is not to simply make us happy, but so thatwe would still further communicate His blessing.

1 God Himself is love, and therefore He blesses. Love does not seek itself. When the love of God comes to us, it will seek others through us.

2  From the beginning, a Christian must understand that he has received grace with the definite aim of becoming a blessing to others. Please, do not keep for yourself what the Lord gives to you for others. Offer yourself expressly and completely to the Lord--to be used by Him for others. That is the way to be blessed over flowingly yourself.

3 The power for this work will be given. "Be a blessing," "I will bless thee," says the Lord. You are to be personally blessed and sanctified. You are to be filled with the Spirit, peace, and power of the Lord. Then you have power to bless.

4  (Ephesians 1:3)  “In Christ, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings”  Let Jesus fill you with these blessings, and you will certainly be a blessing. You do not need to doubt or fear.  The blessing of God includes in it the power of life for multiplication, for expansion, for communication.

5 Blessing always includes the power to bless others. Only give the word of the Almighty God, "I will bless thee,"  time to sink into your spirit. Wait upon God, so that He Himself may say to you, "I will bless thee." Let yourfaith cleave firmly to this. God will make it truth to you, above all asking and thinking. 

6  But for this reason you must also take yourself to the place of blessing--the land of promise, and the simple of faith in those promises. "Get thee out of thy country and thy father's house," says the Lord. God would have departure and separation from the life of nature and the flesh, in which we are born of Adam. The offering up of what is most precious to man is the way to the blessing of God.

7 "Go to the land I will show you," says the Lord, "out of the old life into a new life, where I alone am  your guide." That is, a life where God can have me wholly for Himself alone, and where I walk only on the promises of God--a life of faith.

Christian, God will in a divine fashion fulfil to you His promise, "I will bless thee." Leave your homeland, your father's house, and your life and involvement with the world and the ways of the flesh. Enter into the new life--the life of the Spirit, the life in fellowship with God--to which He will lead you. There you become receptive to His blessing. There your heart becomes open to full faith in His word, "I will bless thee. "There He can fulfill that word to you, and make you full of His blessing and power to be a blessing to others. Live with God,separated from the world. Then you will hear the voice of God speak with power: "I will bless thee"; "Be thou a blessing." Father, show me the way to that promised  land where You bring Your people to have them wholly  for Yourself. I will abandon everything to follow You, to hold converse with You alone, in order that You may fill me with Your blessing. Lord, let Your word, "I will bless thee," live in my heart as a Word of God. Then will I give myself wholly to live for others and to be a blessing. 
“BLESSED YOU ARE”

I found this sermon on the internet. It was created by Andrew Murray. I liked it and made a few small tweaks and shared it with the Rockburn Congregation.    Elizabeth Waller     I hope you like it also!

Songs of your Choice led by the Franklin Ensemble

Benediction and Sung Amen
As we leave this place today: Live simply, care deeply, and pray daily. And after you’ve done all this, place your lives in the hand of a gracious and merciful God. Amen.  “Blessed You Are”


Thought for the Day

“Don’t think of the things you didn’t get after praying.

Think of the countless blessings God gave you without asking.”